Mel
by Acidika
Summary: Standing at a staggering eight feet tall, her mutilated fingers tipped with sharp curved claws, her body covered in scars and her face veiled by her long white hair. She was a fearsome sight to behold, in sharp contrast to her gentle nature. She was an Alliance assassin, called Project M31. But her name... was Mel. Rated M for violence, language, mild gore, and some sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: First and foremost, thanks to my co-writer Vizord for showing me Firefly. Second, Mel is his character, all of her traits and personality were his creation, I'm just allowed to use her in a story, which of course is this one.**

 **Finally, disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters portrayed in this story, all rights to Firefly belong to the copyright holders. No infringement was intended. Mel, as I already said, is also not mine, and she is used with permission from her creator, Vizord.**

* * *

The chirping of birds and the gentle rustling of the leaves in the wind filled the warm air, a serene peace surrounded a small wooden house in the forest. It was truly a picturesque scene.

Until the sound of a scream rended through the air, coming from within the cabin, followed by the sound of a dull thud as something heavy dropped to the floor.

Slowly, the only door of the cabin creaked open, and an incredibly tall and thin figure ducked under the frame and came outside, clad in barely more than enough rags for modesty, with sharp curved metal claws in place of the final bones on their fingertips. Claws that were dripping with blood as she peered around thoughtfully, one brilliantly sharp blue eye visible through her long curtain of near-white hair.

Her name... was Mel.

All around her, armed Alliance soldiers and two men in suits with blue gloves on their hands waited cautiously as her constantly roaming gaze enjoyed the scenery. She always did this after completing her missions, and it was deceptively dangerous to approach her until she herself was satisfied by the sight seeing. It was her personal reward that followed a kill, the last time she was aggressively approached while in this serene state, she'd torn an entire squad of soldiers apart with her claws, then proceeded to sit on the small rock she'd initially been on and returned her gaze to the clouds she'd been enjoying.

Mel liked the tranquil scenery, especially the singsong chirps and calls of the birds. So, she slightly lifted her head, exposing her lips through her hair and seemed to perfectly mimic a bird's call, which was immediately replied to with another one, earning a brief smile and a small encouraged giggle from the towering girl.

Again she whistled, and the bird, a Blue Jay, to everyone's eternal surprise, came fluttering down from the tree it was in to lightly land on her shoulder, chirping contently, to which Mel continued to whistle with it, as if they were having a conversation.

Still engrossed with her new little friend, Mel slowly began to approach the two suited men, still whistling cheerily.

Since this was her usual cue that she'd had her fill of the scenery - although the bird was something new - Mel paid them no mind as they shackled her wrists together and bound her claws in a special metal restraint. She knew the sounds of the process by heart, counting each individual metallic click and clunk in her head until her hands were immobilized and she followed them, still whistling, back to the nearby shuttle that they'd arrived in to retrieve her.

* * *

"Agh, I fold. Crappy hand." Jayne tossed his cards onto the table as he reached for his nearby beer to take a swig.

"I call." Wash placed his bet, four peanuts, into the pile, holding his cards up for a moment to check them.

"I call too." Malcolm added six peanuts to the mix, leaving their last player, River, with her ever perfect poker face, silent for just those few seconds too long before they realized what she was about to do.

" _All in_."

"Now, River, remember what we said about you countin' the cards..." Malcolm reminded her, but her only response was to briefly cock an eyebrow with a little smirk on her face as they all presented their hands at the same time.

Malcolm had three of a kind, and Wash had two pairs, but River had a respectable full house and had indeed been playing legitimately the entire time.

"How the hell you even count the cards anyway?" Jayne asked as they slid her ten peanuts into her respectable pile. "Deck's only got 52 of 'em."

"You can't count cards in poker." River explained. "It's only for blackjack. And to actually do it, I'd need to show you since it's a bit more complex that you'd think." River smirked, once again jabbing at Jayne for his intellect. "Poker's about numbers. Percentage chances to determine what cards your opponents have, and to fool them with a bluff or read past their expression, hence the term poker face for a stoic or non-reactive expression."

"Well hows about we try a game of blackjack now? Teach us your countin' way, missy." Jayne challenged, collecting the cards and shuffling the deck vigourously before placing it in the center of the table. "Cap'n, you be the dealer. I'll play her."

"Okay. No bets this time, since it's about the countin'." Malcolm dealt Jayne his first two cards, the Five of Hearts and the Jack of Clubs. "Start countin', River."

"Each card is given a positive, neutral or negative value." River began her explanation by making a simple one-handed gesture towards the two cards. "Cards from 2 up to 6 are the positives, which means the add one point." She pointed at the five. "Seven, eight and nine are neutral, they don't give or take points. 10's and up to the Ace are the negatives, meaning the take away one point. Play my two cards, please."

Malcolm did so, which was the Seven of Hearts and the 2 of Spades, so River continued to explain the system by asking a question. "Now, with that information, what is the present count of our available cards?"

All three men did the internal counts, coming up with the same value; One point.

"It's plus one, ain't it?" Jayne asked, and River nodded once.

"Now, Jayne, make a call." River pointed at his pair. "We'll play this set legitimately."

With that, Jayne nodded at Malcolm, who added another card, the Six of Spades, giving him the perfect 21 to immediately win the hand.

"Now the count is plus two." River slid her cards forward to be returned. "Decks with the face cards still in it are favourable to the player, while the opposite, with the low cards still in it, is in favour of the dealer. With enough hands played, and proper skill, your chances of winning a hand, or even a whole game, rise by approximately 1%."

"That's not a whole lot, missy." Jayne frowned, having been expecting a higher success rate.

"In a legitimate game, the dealer has a zero point five percent advantage over the player from the start, by counting cards and with proper gambling strategy, that 1% goes much further than you'd think." River continued, idly examining a peanut. "That being said, proper etiquette, betting and knowing when to step away from the game to make it seem legitimate are particularly key factors to keeping a winning streak from beginning to seem suspicious."

"She's right, you know." Wash nodded in understanding, finding the whole idea of card counting much easier than it first seemed. "But can't you play blackjack with more than the one deck?"

"If that's the case, you divide by the number of remaining decks to get the 'true' count for the game." River concluded her tutorial with a slight smile. "Shall we continue the game? You can count the cards if you want, I'll play fair."

"How's about we turn in for the night, pick up our next round another time?" Malcolm tucked the deck back into the box and finished his own beer's last mouthful. "We've got a job to do in the morning, we'd best be shiny for the cargo pickup."

* * *

 **A/N: River isn't a mental mess in this story, as much as I personally enjoyed her character. Still a genius, of course.**

 **Anyway, just a couple shorter chapters to get things started, as of this initial upload, I've written the first five chapters and am working on the sixth when my current writer's block isn't sitting in my face.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Kitty."

Mel held one of her claws up for the regal looking Blue Jay, which she'd named Kitty - for whatever reason - to perch himself on the metal surface, earning a happy little tweet from her companion as they shared a back and forth chat of whistling and chirps.

On the other side of a reinforced panel of one-way bulletproof glass - heavily scarred with claw scratches and scuffs - were the two men in suits with blue gloves. Mel knew they were there, but paid them no mind as she continued to just sit in the middle of the room with Kitty perched on her raised index claw, with the heavily claw-marked metal door in front of her and a small little shelf for Kitty was attached to the wall above the corner she'd declared long ago as her sleeping corner, diagonally opposite to the lavatory's privacy wall.

"You have another mission, Project M31." A voice from a hidden intercom spoke up, earning a head tilt from Kitty and Mel's visible eye to redirect towards the door before it was knocked on twice from the outside before it slid open, revealing two guards, one of whom was holding her customary set of claw restraints.

"Kitty, come." Mel slowly stood up, letting Kitty flap the short distance to perch on top of her head while they restrained her hands as the two men in suits appeared in the open door behind the guards as the nearly eight foot tall girl meekly fell into step behind the guards while the suited men followed behind her, side by side.

After the familiar route to the briefing room, Mel was sent through the door alone - Kitty was still on her head, the two seemingly inseparable - and it slid closed behind her as she slowly, deliberately focused her ever turning head straight ahead towards the figure ahead of her in the dimly lit room, standing with their arms behind their back as always.

"Project M31, your mission, as always, is a target. You will be provided with their location en route. Proceed to the shuttle for transfer to the transport vessel." The person, which Mel internally gave the name Dark, gave her orders without moving.

"Kill?" Mel's soft, timid little voice spoke up through her curtain of hair, and Kitty's head tilted to the side quizzically up top.

"Yes, go kill." Dark replied, and Kitty chirped, seemingly in agreement.

"Kill." Mel repeated with a small nod as she slowly turned around as the door slid open and she ducked under the frame and fell into step for the next portion of her memorized route and went to the shuttleport.

One short shuttle ride with her usual escorts and her feathery friend, then she was aboard the transport vessel with the profile of her target, most of their profile meant nothing to her. She only needed their appearance and location.

* * *

Within 10 hours, Mel was dropped off by herself from the shuttle, on the outskirts of a town, leaving her to walk the rest of the way into town, passing a few normal people on small farms and ranches, whistling back and forth with Kitty along the way.

Out of the irrelevant drabble the target's profile had, it said they were influential in the planet's criminal dealings, known for contraband smuggling and slavery trade. Local criminals under his command were expected to be present as bodyguards, not that it was much of a concern for her particular skillset.

Kitty chirped in warning, and Mel's gaze immediately went to a ship that was passing overhead to a nearby ranch, bigger than a shuttle for sure, but clearly not Alliance.

Mel carefully approached a nearby tree, watching from a distance. The ship looked to be a transport, and as she watched the freight hatch slowly open and reveal a crew of about seven or eight step out to meet a group of three standing near some crates.

Mel spotted her target among the group of three, right in the center, and by proxy, the leader. She watched quietly, and even Kitty was quietly watching the two groups talk for a few minutes before a few of the larger group picked up the crates and carried them into the ship. The one in the lead of the big group, a man with brown hair and a holstered weapon on his right leg, shook hands with her target and returned to the ship.

Knowing her opening when she saw it, Mel gave a small chirp of warning to Kitty, and Kitty fluttered off her head as she took off at a full quadruped sprint with her long limbs and deceptively powerful physique. Kitty easily kept pace about fifteen feet above her as she easily kept her advantage of surprise until the very last second and tore out of some undergrowth on all fours to suddenly slash her claws into the first bodyguard's unarmoured neck in a spray of bright red blood, already in a midair leap towards her second interference, taking off one of their arms, then slit the man's throat as she spun around to face the barrel of her target's raised weapon, a shotgun.

"Fuckin' Reaver... What the hell are you doin' out here?!" The terrified man shouldered the weapon, ready to fire, but suddenly Kitty flapped right up to the man's face and let out a sharp screeching cry to startle the man and give Mel an opening to thrust her hand into his chest, only briefly hindered by his armour hidden under his clothing.

"Mel." She declared her name with a hint of pride through her hair. "Not Reaver."

The gurgling of the man's attempt at speaking was irrelevant to her now, as she sensed a presence behind her and spun around to see the leader from the bigger group cautiously approaching with one hand on his still holstered gun.

"Now I catch you did declare your name to be Mel? Is that right?" The man asked as he took in the sight of her ragged attire, metal claws and jauntily perched bird - which he confidently concluded to be her companion - on top of her long curtain of white hair, with only one eye peering through a naturally off-center part in her hair.

"Mel." She pointed one bloodied claw at her chest, then moved it upwards to indicate the bird on her head, which was preening under a wing with his beak. "Kitty."

"Now, after what I just witnessed, I daresay you had a problem with Mr. Mactus of the revenge sorts."

"Yes, problem." Mel agreed with a slight nod of her head. "Not problem now."

"Now if I'm not mistaken, someone of your sorts might need to make a hasty getaway before things become scary. If you're willing, let's make it fast."

Mel's eye glanced upwards as Kitty peered down at her eye from his lofty perch, chirping twice with a sideways tilt of it's head.

"Yes."


	3. Chapter 3

"Project M31 is not here... But she was."

The two suited men recognized her distinctive handiwork, noticing signs of a ship having landed nearby. The ground bore no signs of her bare footed tracks due to the ship's takeoff, aside from her original running path from the northern road.

"Seems that Project M31 made another friend aside from that Blue Jay of hers..." The other spoke with a sigh.

* * *

"So... Mel? Is that short for somethin'?" Jayne asked as the ship left the planet's atmosphere. Aside from Wash, Simon and River, everyone was gathered in the cargo hold to greet the scantily clad, long haired and lanky behemoth with her avian companion.

"Mel." As she first did down on the planet's surface with Malcolm, she first pointed a single claw at herself, then lifted the same one to indicate her bird. "Kitty."

"So, there any parts you're lookin' to go to? We can take you wherever you need to be." Malcolm had figured that she'd also be needing some better clothes, since it was plainly obvious that at first glance, she could almost be mistaken for a Reaver. He'd also need to do some quick thinking regarding her claws as well. Her body was covered in all sorts of scars, not just ones from her claws. More than a few were gunshots and knife stabs.

"Free." Mel replied, then a chirp from Kitty goaded her to elaborate. "I am free now. Anywhere I want... No more missions."

"Missions?" Zoe's eyes narrowed before she shared a glance with Malcolm, just as Simon and River came into the cargo hold and drew everyone's gazes when River and Mel made direct eye contact. "Hey, um... Mel?"

Simon somehow sensed it before it happened, stepping out of the way as River and Mel ran full sprint at each other, only to suddenly embrace each other, tears running down River's cheeks as Kitty flapped overhead for a moment to resume his place on Mel's head.

"Mel!"

"Sister!"

Everyone was rightfully confused by the display, until Kaylee broke the touching moment's awkward silence.

"I think I know what she meant by missions..."

* * *

"An Alliance assassin?" Wash was the first to show the group's mutually concerning confusion.

"Mel's short for her Alliance codename; Project M31." River explained, having been tapping into Mel's thoughts to explain things to the adults. "As we clearly saw by her grand entrance right after the deal, she's sent in to kill particular targets for the Alliance. We got lucky she didn't like the numbers of our two groups together."

"I'm still hung up on the assassin part..." Jayne was staring at Mel's surprisingly timid demeanor, hunched over, knees slightly bent, with her claw-tipped hands held close to herself, oddly like a pair of paws with her fingers close together. The posture reduced her towering eight foot height down to a more reasonable six feet or so.

"Kill for Alliance." Mel spoke up with a very slight tilt of her head, just like how Kitty did. "But Alliance bad, I want free for long time."

"So them there claws of yours... What's the story behind those?" Jayne pointed at her hands, but Kitty made a series of chirps and tweeks, an oddly annoyed tone to them.

"The first knuckle on all her fingers was removed, replaced with what you see. Titanium, all of them." River continued to sift through Mel's mind for the relevent memories. "Mel's scared, we should stop with the questions for now."

"One last one..." Malcolm raised one hand as he spoke. "Big girl like you could make some honest work, if you fix them hands of yours first. But I think we've got a spot for you and your feathery friend aboard Serenity, seeing as you're none too keen 'bout the Alliance no more. What'cha reckon there, Mel?"

"Yes." Mel didn't even hesitate. It was a good idea, except for the part about her hands. She wasn't keen on having them messed with... AGAIN.

* * *

"You reckon you got things all figured out by now?" Malcolm asked as he finished giving Mel the tour of Serenity, returning to their starting point in the cargo hold.

"Soon." Mel nodded as she peered through the narrow gap in her hair, scanning the hold as she put it to memory. "I will remember... Soon."

"Good to hear. So, go on and make yourself comfortable. We'll give you a holler when it comes chow time." Malcolm gave a nod as he went back to the bridge where Wash and Zoe were waiting, passing River on the catwalk. "River, darlin', I ain't gotta worry none 'bout her, do I?"

"Alliance changed her body... Not her brain." River replied without taking her gaze off Mel down below. "She just needs time to adjust to her new life."

"You been all up in her head, ain'tcha?" Malcolm asked a bit quieter, well aware of what River could extract from the minds of people around her.

"I've been in yours." River replied with a touch of sass, smirking at his slightly uncomfortable expression as he left the cargo hold.

With her usual chirps and whistling, Mel and Kitty seemed to chat back and forth as she wandered over to sit on the staircase just below where River was watching over her.

"Does anyone else understand Kitty like you do?" River could feel the instinctive understanding that Mel shared with Kitty. Although she herself couldn't translate it, she felt the connection for sure.

"No, just me." Mel peered up at River for a moment while Kitty preened himself on her shoulder. "Kitty thinks the ship is pretty."

"Serenity is beautiful, for sure." River descended the stairs and sat beside Mel. "So, do you... remember what they did to me?"

"Not really." Mel slightly shook her head.

"I can read minds." River decided to use simple terms to describe her abilities. "And I can... look into people's memories and feel what they feel... Including you." River turned her head to stare at Mel's eye through her hair, even from this close, it was hard to see anything through the curtain of white hair except for her eye. "I know what they did to you... Even if you can't remember it yourself."

"Two by two, hands of blue." Mel quoted the familiar little rhyme with a nod. "Serenity safe place... No more missions."

"No missions, just jobs now." River smiled as she too nodded. "You do know what we do, right?"

"Freelance transport, whatever jobs we get." Mel repeated the words that Malcolm himself said at the beginning of her tour. "Jobs better than missions. I like jobs too." Mel agreed with Kitty's series of tweets and a single chirp.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: In response to recent guest reviews: Guest; The original version of Mel was created _BEFORE_ Overwatch ever came out, so no, Mel isn't like Bastion in any shape or form. Rachael; Thank you for the appreciation, but any questions concerning my other stories are better off asked in PM's to me, _not_ in my reviews.**

* * *

Shepherd Book was the one to offer his chair at the dinner table for Mel, opting to stand over at the counter for the time being. Although the gesture was courteous, they'd all neglected to consider that the chairs weren't designed for someone of her enormous stature.

Awkwardly seated on the small chair with her knees up in front of her, Mel's gaze was suddenly very nervously scanning everyone's face. Sure, she'd been with them for a couple hours now, but she felt uncomfortable in the small chair and wanted to trade places with Book. River immediately picked up on that thought in her head, likewise noticing that Mel wasn't eating herself, just letting Kitty pick and choose from her plate.

"Um..." Mel suddenly began, which somehow drew everyone's gaze to her, so she paused for a brief moment before continuing. "Chair small... Book, um... We switch back?"

Book smiled and nodded in understanding, making a mental note to build her a chair when they reached their destination in a few days. "Of course, my dear. Shall I assist you?"

"Is it a pain being so tall?" Inara asked curiously, since among the rest of the crew, Jayne and Malcolm were the tallest, unless you counted Book without his hair tied back, giving him an additional six inches.

"Sometimes." Mel nodded as Book helped her carry the plate - with Kitty still eating on top - over to the counter. "Clumsy and tall... But fast and strong."

"After... we eat, would you care to visit me in my shuttle?" Inara asked, not even daring to use a hint of Companion coercion or seduction in her request. Mel didn't seem like the type for any of that, but she did have an idea in mind to help the gentle giant.

"Left shuttle?" Mel remembered the drastically differing shuttle interiors from her tour. The fancy one was Inara's, while the more familiar looking one was the transport one for everyone else.

"Yes, that's right." Inara nodded with a smile as they all resumed eating, with Book back in the chair and Mel - more comfortably - at the counter with Kitty looking up at her with a sideways head tilt, chirping once with a note of concern.

"Okay, can Kitty come too?" Mel asked, and Inara's smile widened as she nodded again.

"Of course, Kitty is more than welcome to join us."

Jayne and Malcolm shared a glance at Inara's unintentionally subliminal comment, but neither said anything, forcing themselves to maintain a straight face as they resumed eating.

River picked up on it though. They couldn't hide anything from her and her mind reading power.

* * *

After dinner was finished and the dishes were cleaned - Mel wanted to help, but apparently this was an assigned task that rotated among them each day - so she followed Inara back to the cargo hold and into her shuttle, nervously taking in the vastly different interior as Inara gestured for her to join her on some already arranged cushions on the floor.

"Pretty." Mel's gaze took in the whole room as she mimicked Inara's seating pose on ths cushion, with her legs horizontal and supporting herself with one hand.

"Thank you, Mel." Inara smiled at the compliment of the shuttle's interior. "Now, this place is a safe haven, should you ever feel the need to step away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the ship. All I ask is that you knock before coming in."

Mel nodded, and Kitty chirped in agreement, likewise tilting it's head down and back up like Mel.

"So, I wanted to ask you something away from the others. You don't have to be afraid, okay?" Inara kept her voice gentle, her body language relaxed, but once again refused to use her Companion skills to convince Mel to do what she was about to ask.

"Pretty shuttle safe place. Safe like Serenity." Mel understood what Inara meant.

"So, can I... see your face?" Inara asked, having been quite intrigued by the perpetually veiling curtain of hair concealing all but her right eye and a brief shadow of her nose.

"My face?" Mel's soft-spoken voice sounded surprised by the tame request. "Okay." She used her relaxed hand to tuck one of her curved claws around the curtain of hair and pulled it aside to reveal her entire visage.

Like the rest of her body, Mel's face was heavily scarred - and it had a fresh cut that she'd just given herself when she'd pulled her hair aside, just below her right eye and stopped at the side of her nose - and her lips were slightly pale, but both of her blue eyes were bright and seemed to stand out like sparkling sapphires amidst all the scarred flesh.

"Oh, Mel, you cut your cheek..." Inara could see that past the scars, Mel was actually a very pretty girl, but that cut was more concerning since River had explained Mel's claws were Titanium and quite sharp. She was about to stand up to fetch her small first aid kit when Mel actually smiled - revealing that her teeth were quite dangerously sharpened as well, but thankfully weren't metal and also kept in good health - and spoke again.

"Cut not problem. It heal now." Mel explained as the cut did indeed seal itself as she spoke, adding yet another scar to her already marred features. "Not problem. My body heal fast, leave scars. Scars not problem too."

"Um... You can regenerate?" Inara was briefly speechless, amazed by the display of accelerated healing.

"Is that word for my healing?" Mel tilted her head as Kitty gave a quick double chirp. "Re-Gen-Er-Ate..." Mel repeated the word slowly, getting used to saying it. "All of scars from regenerate. Most from claws, but some from targets. Guns and knives."

Inara found Mel's odd manner of speech and interesting grammar usage oddly cute, which was a strong contrast to her admittedly intimidating appearance.

"Do you mind... if I brush your hair? You have a beautiful face, and it'll help you be able to see a lot better. You don't have to if you don't want to." Inara made the request, waiting until Mel consulted with Kitty in a series of whistles and chirps - she could tell that they understood each other without any issues - before Mel asked a question she admittedly wasn't expecting.

"What is brush?"

Inara let out a small giggle at the naively adorable question, so she slowly stood up and walked to a nearby drawer and opened it to retrieve an elegant hairbrush, then returned to sit a bit closer to Mel's side and presented it to her to describe what it was.

"This is called a hairbrush, it is used to..." Inara actually paused to put words to the near-second nature action of brushing one's hair. "It helps clean hair, and with some special training, it can also be used to make hair pretty."

"Hairbrush..." Mel gave it a focused visual examination as she looked at Kitty preening himself. "So... Hairbrush like how Kitty fixes feathers?"

"Yes, that's right." Inara smiled at Mel's parallel comparison. "Do you want me to brush your hair?"

"Yes, please!" Mel actually liked the idea, so she released her curtain of hair - it returned to the more familiar veil over her face except for her right eye - and Kitty chirped once since he could tell he'd need to move. "Oh, Kitty. Here." Mel held up her index claw for Kitty to perch himself on while Inara stood behind Mel to begin her work.

"Let me know if I make you uncomfortable, okay?" Inara asked, and Mel nodded before she felt the first pass of Inara's hairbrush, the sensation new but very gentle. It felt good.

* * *

Elsewhere in the ship's mess hall, River and Simon were discussing how best to get Mel some clothes from what they had available for fabrics.

"For starters, Simon, we'll need her measurements." River's gaze examined the limited materials they could spare. "After that, we'd need to convince her to actually wear what we manage to make for her."

"If I may..." Book suddenly spoke up as he joined them at the table with a careful examination of their fabrics. "I think for a temporary solution that we fashion her a pair of pants or even shorts, and for modesty and simplicity, a sort of chest wrapping using this here long piece. There's also the matter of her hands..."

"I already figured somethin' for that, Preacher." Jayne was just passing by with his boxing gloves that he used for working out on the punching bag in the cargo hold. "See these here boxin' gloves? Why don't we fashion her some sorta padded mittens or the like?"

"If I had the proper tools, I could actually do the surgery to replace her claws with a rounded off version of her claws, like normal fingers. It would take ages of grinding those claws down to a safer shape otherwise..."

"Nah, Doc, you see the look in her peeper when the Cap'n mentioned getting her fingers fixed up? She ain't gonna do it, no way in hell." Jayne shook his head with a serious expression. "Can't imagine what I'd do with my fingers lookin' like that..."

"I once met a man on my travels, a man named Hagen, he was born with a defect to his hands. Three fingers from each hand were drastically stunted, almost not existent. He was such a skilled artist and writer, combining the usage of his proper digits with his lip at times to manipulate his brush or his pen." Book suddenly spoke up with a thoughtful, pensive tone in his voice. "As it stands, we should put more trust in young Mel's dexterity, and I'm sure Kitty can and will assist her with any sort of small or delicate maneuvering, being so small after all."

"If anything, though an admittingly safe approach to the problem, giving her padded mittens or making her wear boxing gloves is quite... demeaning." Simon sighed as he caught up with this. Right now, their concern was getting her some clothing, not her claws. "River, did you manage to find out how her hands were dealt with by the Alliance?"

"They used a special set of magnetic shackles, like this." River took her brother's hands and put them into the usual paw-like pose that Mel held her own in, then made a crab-claw grip with her hands around the front of Simon's hands, imitating the design of the shackles that she'd seen in Mel's memories.

"Even worse than what we were planning..." Simon nodded in understanding, then sighed again as River released his hands. "Alright, let's get started on making those pants for her, we'll just have to be careful... and stock up on sutures, just in case."


	5. Chapter 5

As the crew of Serenity got up the next morning, they were all surprised to see that Mel was seated cross-legged in the middle of the cargo hold, Kitty languidly soaring around the large room as she just... sat there.

"Mornin'!" Malcolm called from the catwalk, earning a couple cheery chirps from Kitty as he passed. Mel slowly turned her head around to look at him over her shoulder, and only then did he realize that Mel's hair wasn't covering her face anymore. Still covered in scars, but at least she could see. He could tell it was Inara's idea, from their visit together.

"Hi." Mel slowly rose to her full height, looking up at him curiously. "We have job today?"

"Sure do." Malcolm nodded. "Once Wash gets us to our destination, we'll be droppin' off them crates you likely saw us get from when you killed your guy."

"Killing bad?" Mel asked. Missions meant killing, but what about Jobs?

"C'mon up for breakfast, we'll talk 'bout that part." Malcolm waved for her to join them, so she quickly whistled for Kitty to perch on her head as she followed him to the mess hall.

* * *

"How's that sound for doin' any killin' on a job? Make sense?" Malcolm had enlisted everyone's help in trying to elaborate on an established set of rules for killing during a job. They had to make sure Mel didn't get them into trouble with the law, but at the same time, didn't make her a pushover.

"All good, yes." Mel nodded as carefully gripped her spoon in a awkward looking pinching grip between her thumb and index finger. She was eating oatmeal like everyone else, and Kitty was pecking away at some mixed seeds from a trail mix that Book had recently made a large bag worth. "This job now, is peaceful, yes?"

"Should work out just fine. We hand over them three crates, we get paid, we leave and get ourselves 'nother job." Malcolm gave a nod. Aside from Mel killing that man, this job was a surprisingly smooth one.

"I help carry crates?" Mel asked, still hunched over her oatmeal, dutifully eating it despite the awkwardness of her grip on the spoon.

"Sure thing." Malcolm liked her willingness to help with the lifting. "Jayne, you could learn a thing or two from her 'bout work enthusiasm..."

"Hey!" Jayne frowned at the jab, and Mel slightly smiled, but nobody noticed as she just continued eating her oatmeal at the counter.

* * *

"You Captain Reynolds?" One of the eight men on horses asked once Serenity's freight ramp came to a halt, revealing Malcolm, Zoe and Mel standing in the cargo hold with Mel carrying the crates in her arms, peering around the side with Kitty on the top of her head, as usual.

"That's right. Here's the three crates we've been hired to deliver. You got the money?" Malcolm nodded for Mel to step forward and place the crates in front of the horseman slightly ahead of the others, the one that had just spoken.

"Y'all didn't mess with nothin', I hope." The man asked as he tossed a drawstring bag towards Mel, who caught it against her stomach and slowly backed up the ramp to stand beside Zoe.

"Nope, not a soul touched 'em up in the black." Malcolm shook his head. "Mel carried 'em out for you, is all."

"S'all here." One of the men had hopped down from his horse to open a crate and check on the contents before stepping back to his creature and getting on.

"Pleasure doin' business with y'all." Malcolm gave a wave as he and Zoe turned to return to the ship, but Mel's killer instincts kept her from leaving. She gave them a glance as Kitty chirped a few times in warning.

"I ain't said we done yet." The sound of a gun being unholstered reached their ears, so they both slowly turned around to see the rest of them doing the same, a mix of rifles, pistols and for some reason, a large square-headed hammer.

"We only received three crates, seems there's some sorts of issue happenin'..." Malcolm didn't reach for his gun... He had a better idea standing nearby.

"That there ship seems mighty fine, so I says we's gonn' take it from y'all." The leader slightly gestured with his pistol, and the hammer wielder flexed his fingers on the heavy handle.

"Now, now... I wouldn't go doin' that..." Malcolm held up his hands calmingly. "We wouldn't want this whole situation to... get out of _hand_ , or the sorts."

Mel picked up on what he was saying immediately. That was one of the rules they agreed on; only attack when the situation can't be calmly talked through. He'd just given her the warning signal that it was getting bad.

"Y'all gonn' getcha crew, walk'em right down that there ramp, and sit there while we's fly away with all y'all got on board!" The leader clicked his gun's hammer back threateningly, which was the signal that Mel needed.

With a quick flick of her wrist to toss the money bag behind her, Mel charged at full speed right for the leader, letting out a feral snarl of fury as she then proceeded to claw, kick and even bite the group to shreds in a matter of seconds.

When she was done, there was a very brief silence before the bag of coins came back down from her toss and thumped on the ramp with a slight clinking of coins shifting around from the impact.

It had taken a mere 3 and a half seconds to kill all the men and even the horses. Malcolm and Zoe hadn't even been able to do more than draw their weapons, unable to line up a shot by the time Mel was already upon the man with a spray of blood and a cry of agony.

"Well, at least we got paid. Zoe, call Jayne down to help collect their ammo. Mel, you all calm and such?"

"Yes, no problem." Mel's feral pose - a slightly crouched stance with one hand on the ground while the other was held at the ready to use her claws - vanished almost in an instant as she resumed her customary timidly hunched over posture. "Why this one not have gun?" Mel poked the corpse of the one that had the hammer.

"I couldn't figure." Malcolm shrugged as he crouched to collect the coin bag. "Seems like somethin' suited for someone of your size, I reckon."

Mel looked at the blood covered hammer in the corpse's lap, then received an encouraging chirp from Kitty as he landed on her head, so she picked it up in one hand and nonchalantly rested it on her shoulder as Jayne came out of the cargo hold with a surprised stare at the sight before his eyes.

"You did all that with a hammer?" He asked, gawking at her now customary sideways-head-tilted curious stare.

" _Maybe."_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Been writing this one on the back burner for a while, and finally had enough to do an update for it. as of writing this, there's one more chapter after this done, but it still needs a few tweaks before i feel it's ready to upload. So, until then, here's Chapter 6.**

* * *

"Mel like new clothes." Mel's voice hinted approval at the outfit that River and Simon had worked on for her, and - with River's help - she was now wearing the shorts and chest wrap, but only lacked footwear right now, since her feet were much bigger than anyone else, plus the soles of her feet were very toughened and leathery - but quite clean - so it might be a slight inconvenience to give her footwear, all things considered.

"If there's anything you need, just ask River or I, we're glad to help." Simon, who was already permitted to destroy the ragged shirt and shorts that Mel had previously worn, nodded respectfully, but already had something in mind for the fabric.

"Carry hammer like gun?" Mel, for all intents and purposes, spoke broken English and not a single word of Chinese, so she didn't quite have the word she was looking for; Holster.

"We'd need to do some thinking for that, I'll see what I can do." Simon knew she meant a holster for the two-handed weapon - even for her, it was better gripped with two hands - but that would need stronger materials than the fabrics that were on hand. "For now, it'd be best to carry it like you already do, okay?"

"I understand." Mel hefted the hammer - placed upside down on it's head with the handle aimed straight upwards - from the floor into her hands, then rested it over one shoulder while Kitty was safe atop her head. "Thank you."

Mel wandered away, leaving the siblings to prepare for the new task regarding the old attire.

"Nest or birdhouse?" River already knew without consulting inside Simon's brain.

"I'd say both, actually. Use pieces for inside the nest, and to line the birdhouse's interior." Simon nodded.

"I'll get some scissors..." River turned to leave, but Simon opened his mouth, and she stopped.

"Not yet... We'll need some more materials first."

"So what about the fabric?" River asked, now actually delving his mind for what he was planning. But all she got was memories of seeing various handmade birdhouses from border planets.

"Since Mel can regenerate, she has no need to be in the infirmary. I'll keep them safe in there, for now." Simon replied. "Not like she's very fond of the place either, right?"

* * *

Dinner that evening was cheerful as usual, with Mel at the counter, Kitty enjoying his trail mix from a bowl beside her, and the ship stationary for the night hours.

"So, what's the word on the next job?" Jayne asked aloud.

"Badger's got a small one, Patience hasn't replied yet, and there's no response from our postin' on the Cortex yet." Malcolm replied. "We're two and a half days from Persephone, so let's just tidy up the ship, make space in the cargo hold, and keep our course set for Badger's job. We might be able to take a few fares along the way as well."

"Fares?" Mel asked, unsure of the term.

"Oh, we give travelin' folk a ride." Kaylee explained. "Simon, River and Shepherd Book used to be fares, but we got along so good they're just part of the crew now."

"Fares pay like Jobs?" Mel asked, and Malcolm nodded.

"Sure do. Not as much, but they pay."

"Which reminds me..." Jayne leaned back in his chair. "What about them fares takin' offense to Mel's claws?"

"That won't be an issue." Malcolm shook his head. "Mel is part of our crew, and shall be respected as such. If they take offense to that, Mel's allowed to have her say, just like if it were you, or even me."

Since her hair wasn't in her face anymore, everyone noticed Mel's blushing face at the praise.

"No kill fares... But I have my say." Mel sounded very proud as she spoke, returning to her food with her sweet little smile.

* * *

When they arrived at the bustling ship port and lowered the ramp, Mel's immediate instinct was to cower behind the nearest large object at the sight of _so many people_! Her eyes were wide with clear signs of terror, and Kitty was perched on her shoulder, chirping gently to seemingly reassure her. Malcolm and Jayne shared a brief glance, but it was Kaylee that came to Mel's rescue.

"Mel, d'ya wanna stay me and Shepherd Book here in Serenity?"

Mel turned her whole head towards Kaylee, then timidly glanced at the crowd for a brief moment, and nodded very slightly.

"Many people..."

"Kitty, you too?" Kaylee turned to the Blue Jay, who chirped in agreement with a slight hop on Mel's shoulder. "Shiny! C'mon, let's go grab a chair while we wait for everyone to do what they gotta go do, and maybe we'll get us those fares while they're gone."

"Captain, I will make sure to keep things settled while you're away." Book nodded at the silent request in Malcolm's eyes, who returned the nod right away.

"Cheers, preacher. We'll step lively." With that, himself, Zoe and Jayne joined the crowds, on their way to speak with Badger for the job he was offering.

Mel, now able to take a few steadying breaths to calm down, came out from behind the crate she had used to hide behind, and noticed a young man carrying a backpack approaching the ramp curiously. "Fare."

Book, being the informal leader without Malcolm, stepped forward to greet the young traveler. "Hello, how may we help you?"

"Y'all takin' fares? Or just cargo? Freighter, right? Firefly-Class, I reckon."

"We are take both, actually. Our captain stepped out to arrange for the cargo, but did say we could take along passengers, subject to his discretion upon his return aboard, of course." Book replied with a nod.

"Mind if I step inside with y'all till he comes back?" The young man asked, and Book stepped to the side with a welcoming gesture and a smile. "Much 'preciated, sir... Ma'am..." He nodded his head at the sight of Kaylee, then paused when he saw Mel, taking in her height for a moment before adding. "And to you as well, ma'am."

Kitty chirped and tilted his head to the side, almost like he was suspicious of the young man. Mel whistled back, likewise giving the man a quick sweep with her eyes, her expression unreadable.

"Mind if I ask your name, young man?" Book kept up the pleasant conversation, having noticed the brief exchange between the pair when he'd addressed Mel.

"James, sir." He held out his hand for a handshake, and Book accepted it warmly.

"My name is Shepherd Book, the young ladies here with me are Mel and that there is her Blue Jay, Kitty, and this is Kaylee. It's a pleasure to meet you, James."

"Likewise, sir. Ma'am's." James smiled and glanced around the hold for a moment. "Um, it ain't no bother if I sits somewhere? I got a book I've been readin', I was just, y'know..."

"Of course, please, all I ask is that you stay here in the hold with us, okay?" Book smiled again, and turned to Kaylee for a moment. "If there's anything you ladies need help with, I'll be here at the ramp to greet any new passengers. Young James will have his book, of course, I can handle it from here."

"You sure, Book? I don't mind doin' some friendly talkin' with you and Mel..."

"Worry not, my dear, I do believe Miss Inara wishes to speak with both of you." Book glanced up to the upper catwalk where Inara smiled at his courtesy.

"Inara!" Mel seemed to perk up with excitement upon sighting the woman smiling at them.

"Care to join me for some tea, girls?" Inara gestured, not to her nearby shuttle, but to the kitchen corridor behind her. "River and Simon are already waiting for us."

"Tea?" Mel tilted her head in her 'I'm confused' style as Kitty gave a series of chirps and short whistles, almost as if he was explaining what tea was for her. "Okay." Mel seemed to like the idea of tea, so she turned her gaze back to Inara and nodded with an adorable little smile tugging at her lips.

When the trio joined Inara in the kitchen, they were greeted by Simon and River already sitting at the table, one smiling at Mel's clearly interested expression, the other smiling at the welcome sight of Mel even smiling in the first place.

"Hi Mel, you okay?" Simon had seen her hiding behind the crate earlier from the catwalk, so he attributed it to the crowds of people outside that were slightly audible from the kitchen.

"Fine now, yes." Mel nodded and noticed that there was a new chair that was painfully obviously meant for her stature. "Thank you for chair."

"We did our best to get it the right size for you, I hope we didn't fail anything about it." Simon smiled warmly in reply to her gratitude.

Mel carefully sat in her chair and gave it an experimental shift of her shoulders and hips to make sure it was sturdy. It was, and she flashed that same adorable little smile, which she did with her lips closed, well aware of what they were shaped like.

"I like chair, thank you."

"Now, the tea should be almost ready by now, shall we?" Inara gracefully joined them to sit beside Mel at the table, right in front of the small copper kettle that had been gently steaming the entire time.

* * *

Malcolm, Zoe and Jayne returned to Serenity at a calm, brisk stride, all three discussing the cargo they were being asked to transport, which was an honest shipment of foodstuffs for a small outpost, a small, couple days worth of work to keep them occupied and more importantly... paid.

"We could have this done in a day and a half, two days no problem. Plus any fares we take, net us a tidy profit." Malcolm seemed pleased by the discussion with Badger, who usually had a rough edge for less-honest jobs, but this time, it was just a food delivery, no tricks, no trouble, as he'd said it himself. "Now, hows about we take a see what we're havin' for fares, then plan our next two days around what we're movin' through the black."

"Yes, sir, I'll plot our cargo's course with Wash right away." Zoe nodded in agreement as they came into view of Serenity and weaved through the crowds of the early-afternoon activity surrounding them.

Book was waiting for them at the top of the ramp in the shade, stepping out to greet them halfway down the ramp.

"So, how did the meeting go with Mr. Badger?"

"Food delivery, 'bout a two-day job, fair pay from the contact we're takin' it to. How're we doin' for fares?"

"We've had six requests, all are waiting to speak with you once our official job is plotted." Book gestured into the cargo hold where six people were gathered off to one side to await the return of the ship's captain, as Book had informed them upon arrival.

"Zoe, have Wash plot our course, then I'll come up with all'a their destinations and we can figure out who we're takin' and who's gonna have to stay." Malcolm gave her a nod, and she marched inside and hurried up the stairs to the catwalk and went through the kitchen corridor and out of sight. "Preacher, how's about our big girl? She and the blue bird was behaved, right?"

"Of course, Inara has been keeping an eye on her with River, Simon and Kaylee while I was out here." Book nodded as Jayne went inside, no longer needed. "She doesn't seem to have any noticeable grievances with the passengers, though she and Kitty shared a similiar reaction to the one over on the left with the book. They both seemed wary of him, despite his good manners since arriving."

"Wary? What kind of wary?" Malcolm asked, lowering his voice and leaning his ear closer to Book's shoulder.

"It was brief, and he certainly had her full attention while it lasted. Kitty's too." Book replied. "Shall I keep a closer eye on him... and her, until we've plotted our course and the fares we're going to accept?"

"Kindly so, preacher. Let's get aboard Serenity and start what we're here for." Malcolm nodded in agreement and both walked up the ramp to address the six passengers that had now noticed his arrival, including James, finally looking up from his book. "Sirs and ma'am's, I'm Captain Reynolds, this is my ship. We're a freelance transport, and our current contract is to take a delivery shipment of food to an outpost 'bout two days time from here. Now I'll be needin' to know where abouts y'all are headin', in case it's out of the ways from where we're tasked to take the food. If that's what it is, I'm gonna ask that there be no fuss if we can't take y'all to your destination."

"If it's not a bother, I was just hopin' to just... go. Haven't really though of where to, y'know?" James held up his book slightly as he spoke to Malcolm. "Just for a week or so. I can... help out, and pay you too!"

"And hows 'bout the rest'a y'all?" Malcolm glanced at the others, who shook their heads to show they all had somewhere in mind to go to. "Alright, Book, show the young man the essentials, the rest'a y'all gonna need to tell me where y'all are goin', then we can figure if it's close enough to our food haul or not."

Kitty came flying into the cargo hold from the kitchen as he spoke, and drew everyone's gaze to see Mel wandering along the catwalk behind her feathery friend, smiling in a cute, carefree way until she spotted Malcolm down below.

"We have job now? Fares too?"

"Sure do, darlin'. We're just sortin' out where everyone's headin', then we'll go pick up our cargo once everything's shiny."

Mel nodded and smiled that oh-so-adorable smile of hers and held up her curled index finger for Kitty to perch himself on as he came back to her with a few chirps and a two-note whistle. She replied in kind, idly wandering away, much to the slight curiosity of the passengers that had witnessed the exchanges.

"Can she... talk to birds?" One woman asked, still staring up at the doorway overhead that she'd gone through, only for Zoe to come through it as she'd finished her question.

"She sure can. Will there be any problems with that?" Zoe pointedly turned her hardened gaze at the woman, who shook her head and said nothing. So Zoe addressed Malcolm with a much more gentle expression. "Course is set, are we done with pickin' where everyone's headed so we can takeoff soon?"


	7. Chapter 7

The first night, Mel sat in the cargo hold, fully awake, yet completely motionless as Kitty constantly hopped back and forth on the edge of the nearest crate, clearly agitated.

Mel could feel Kitty's annoyance, but didn't know what to do or say to help. And with everyone else sleeping, she also had to stay quiet too.

Kitty let out what easily sounded like a sigh, turning towards Mel and tilted his head to the side before sighing again.

Mel blinked, and the next thing she saw, Kitty was gone. Instead, a strange new girl was idly sitting in his place with her legs crossed, smiling at her.

Mel immediately stood up and took to her claw stance, all of which glinted in the low overhead lights as she took in the strange girl's appearance itself; pink eyes, large curved horns on the sides of her head, a white dress with a pink sash for a belt, and a silver metal glove on her left hand that went from her wrist to her knuckles, leaving her fingers exposed.

But for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to attack... She somehow knew the girl.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." The girl spoke quietly, still not moving.

"Where's Kitty?" Mel demanded with a glare at the girl.

"I am Kitty." The girl replied. "But my real name is Ram."

"But... Kitty bird. You person." Mel didn't soften her glare, though it did hint her confusion.

"I can turn into things." Ram explained. "But this is my real shape."

"How?"

"Magic. I'm something called a Liaison." Ram replied. "C'mere, sit with me." She patted the edge of the crate with her unclad hand, and after a moment of consideration, Mel relaxed and joined her. "Now, can I tell you something very important?"

"Is it bad?" Mel seemed to grow wary at the question.

"Not at all. It's about you and me." Ram shook her head slightly.

"Okay."

"You and me have something special called a Lifelink. I can feel what you feel, and you feel what I feel too. And nobody else can feel the things in our Lifelink."

"What is Lifelink?" Mel tilted her head, confused.

"It's when two people are able to know what each other are thinking and feeling, where they are at all times, and even if they're hurt." Ram explained. "It's also got special stuff on top of all that that is just for the two of us, no other Lifelinks have the special stuff like we will."

"How only I can understand you when you Kitty." Mel seemed to catch onto that detail immediately, and of course, Ram nodded.

"Exactly. So if it was another Blue Jay, you and it wouldn't be able to understand each other at all." Ram smiled slightly. "With enough time, everything about our Lifelink will make more sense, and it won't be so confusing."

"What abour River? She has mind reading powers." Mel asked with a tilt of her head back to where the sleeping quarters were located.

"She can read thoughts and emotions, but she can't detect Lifelinks." Ram shook her head slightly. "And she can only do it to people around her. You and me can be far apart and still use our Lifelink easily."

"So why you be Kitty and not Ram?" Mel asked, turning her head back to the girl that was clearly her special friend.

"It's because my job as a Liaison means I travel a lot... So I made Kitty so that I can still be with you even when I'm off working as Ram." Ram patted herself in the chest with her gloved hand. "Kitty is my avatar, he's still me, but he's not me as Ram, okay?"

"But Ram real you." Mel nodded in understanding.

"Exactly. And I can be more than just Kitty too. It's just that Kitty is the one everyone else sees as me, so I can't let anyone else see me as anything else, and only under special work rules can anyone else see me as Ram. Does that make sense?"

"But why me? Because Lifelink?" Mel asked, and Ram nodded.

"Yeah, I can be Ram for you because Lifelink. But only when nobody else can see me, except for those special work rules."

"Is that for work?" Mel pointed at Ram's silver glove and Ram nodded.

"It's called a Cortex, it's like... all of the tools, weapons, and even my magic, that I need for my job put together into one object, which I chose to make into a gauntlet on my hand."

"Is Cortex how you turn into Ram and Kitty?"

"Yup, and I can even call my boss with it." Ram nodded, then paused for a moment. "In fact... _He_ just called _me_..."

Mel immediately glanced at the metal glove, then back at Ram, who was staring off to the side at nothing, but looked like she could hear someone talking that she herself couldn't hear, both directly or with their Lifelink.

After a few seconds, Ram nodded and turned her attention back to Mel.

"My boss has a gift for you to celebrate our Lifelink." Ram smiled, and Mel tilted her head in confusion.

"Is boss here?"

"No, he has special work rules just like me. But his rules are bigger." Ram replied with a teasing glint in her eyes. "I think his rules are a bit on the crazy side, if not complete _Insanity_... But, that's besides the point. He sent your gift already, and here it is!" Ram opened her other hand, holding ten small silver balls that were made of the same silvery metal as her Cortex. "He said to put these on your claws, they're the same metal as my Cortex, so they'll be much stronger _and_ they'll be able to change shape into normal fingers for you, whenever you want them to!"

"How do I put them on claws?" Mel couldn't see a way to safely touch, let alone pick up the silver balls, without scratching Ram's hand.

"I can help you with that. Here, hold out your hands." Ram smiled as she sensed Mel's slight concerns about hurting her. "See, all we have to do is touch the metal to your claws, and the metal will do the rest. Simple."

With that, Ram easily picked up each of the silvery spheres, one at a time, and touched them to all ten of Mel's Titanium claws, which caused them to wrap around each claw like liquids, and turned themselves into the same shape of the claws, only to then turn into silvery fingertips, as if Mel had completely normal hands that were simply dipped into very shiny silver paint up to the first knuckle of her fingers and thumbs. It even had the shape and slight edge of real fingernails too!

"But how to make back to claws?" Mel asked, staring at her new fingertips in utter awe. No pain took place to do it, and as she gently touched them together with each other, she could _feel_ the contact, even though it was metal-on-metal.

"You already know how, give it a try." Ram smiled brightly. "Here's all the Titanium that was used in your hands, by the way. I put it all together into one solid piece for you." Ram held up a small bar of metal that Mel knew immediately was her old claws, so she gingerly grasped the ingot into one hand, then felt her other hand's metal tips turn into the claw shape and she scratched her name into one side of the ingot with her index finger. "See? Excellent work, Melaris."

Ram immediately winced and gritted her teeth as Mel felt a brief hint of Ram being hurt out of no where like that, making her look up in confused concern.

"But sir... our Lifelink..." Ram was clearly trying to explain herself to her invisible boss, but Mel still didn't like that he seemed to be hurting Ram's head. "But...! Yes, understood... I'll fix it, sir."

With a gasp, Ram seemed to be finally free of the pain, and panted for breath for a moment to collect herself, even as Mel gently wrapped her arms around Ram's shoulders and put her cheek against the top of Ram's head, since Ram's horns and much smaller height prevented her from doing it to her cheek instead.

"I made a mistake, my boss was punishing me for it. I shouldn't have called you by your real name yet." Ram explained, gently placing her hands around Mel's forearm and bicep, right in front of her chest. "So now I've been given a new assignment to fix it... and I have to give you some special rules now too."

"Is rule that it secret, no tell anyone?" Mel asked, still cuddling with Ram, knowing what she was about to say was to keep her name and her real form a secret from everyone else.

"River won't be able to use her power to see this one, but yeah, you can't tell anyone about your name or about me as Ram... but my boss just gave me something to explain your new fingers. Can you trust me?"

"What did boss give?"

"He's calling it a 'surprise revelation', but it's gonna hurt your hands a lot and make me turn back to Kitty because everyone's gonna come running here, because my boss said his thing will make you scream from the pain."

"But what will happen?"

"Can I share the thing to her as a memory, sir?" Ram asked aloud, then sighed. "Understood, sir." She glanced up at Mel. "He said 'No, just trust Ram'."

"Boss mean, but I trust Ram... and Kitty." Mel pouted in a very adorable way.

"Okay, on the count of three, I'm gonna do it, okay?"

"No count, just do." Mel let go of Ram and stepped back from the crate, still facing her special friend as Ram nodded once and held up her Cortex hand to snap her fingers.

"Here we go..."

 _SNAP!_

Mel's hands started burning in agony, right where the new metal connected to the rest of her fingers, causing her to immediately scream in pain and fall backwards into one of the crates of food for their job with Badger, breaking it open to reveal a container of what appeared to be the same silvery metal of her new fingers... but in liquid form, and it broke open as she threw out her hands to stop her fall, and was splashed by the liquid metal up to her elbows and over most of her chest and face.

The commotion then drew out the sounds of running feet and loud screeches as Ram - now back to being Kitty - flew overhead in what seemed to be startled panic as everyone came running to find Mel trying to distract herself from her burning hands by hopping from foot to foot while shaking them back and forth in front of herself, to minimal effect.

"Mel, darlin', look at me, over here, c'mon now, eyes on me." Malcolm, shirtless but holding his usual sidearm in his other hand, was beckoning his fingers towards Mel to get her to focus on him instead of what even he could tell was pain coming from her hands. "That's it, good girl, focus on me, okay? Can you tell me what happened? Simon, hang on! Wait a tick." He held out his gun hand to bar Simon's approach past him, since even if Mel didn't intend to, she was in pain and everyone could see that her hands were the source of the agony, so he had to keep her attention on their conversation, not her fingers right now.

"I fell, box break, hands hurt when touch silver stuff!" Mel whimpered, still trying to ignore the pain in her fingers. Idly, part of her mind noted that only her fingertips were in pain, while the rest that had splashed onto her was just slightly warm liquid that was idly dripping off of her.

"Okay, now I'm gonna need to let Simon have a look at your hands, see what's the matter, okay? Can you keep them still so you don't hurt him? Can I trust you to do that for me?"

Mel's tear filled eyes locked with his, and despite her distracted hopping and hand shaking, she could see the trust and concern in his gaze, so she slowly relaxed and stopped moving, so Malcolm lowered his arm to let Simon approach her and she carefully held out her shaking hands as requested.

"Now, Mel, where exactly does it hurt on your hands? On your claws, or on your skin?" Simon first gave a visual inspection without touching her, asking the question in a carefully calm voice.

"Claws." Mel replied with a snifle through her nose.

"Must be reacting with the Titanium, then..." Simon turned as River approached with his field kit, already holding out a test tube for collecting a sample. "Thank you, now, Cap'n, was Badger ever hinting to there being something smuggled into the cargo during your meeting, or was this a complete surprise?"

"Wouldn't put it past him, but no, no hint of the sorts." Malcolm lowered his hands with a sigh. "Now, Mel, we know you're not keen on the infirmary, but can you go there with Simon and River to get yourself sorted? I aim to have a chat with Badger about this little surprise addition to our shipping manifest..."

"Yes..." Mel's hands were shaking as the pain finally began to subside, so she meekly followed the siblings to the medical room to fix the mess she'd made, with Kitty following along behind her.

"My apologies, everyone, but it looks like... she'd tripped over your baggage in the dark." Book knelt to pick up one of the passenger's bags, which was clearly knocked over in line with how they'd found Mel sprawled into the broken crate.

* * *

"That's strange..." Simon muttered as he checked the scan again. "This liquid... is actually some kind of metal."

"But metal hard." Mel, now cleaned and bearing her silvery claws.

"The molecular structure is incredibly dense, but as we can clearly see, it's in liquid form, and despite that density, it's not very heavy at all." Simon continued, clearly intrigued. "And it only reacted to your claws, none of the other metals, like the floor or my equipment here, are reacting the same way that it did with your claws. It seemed to... fuse with them on contact."

"Like a symbiotic fusion." River commented, since she was examining Mel's shiny new claws with the aid of Simon's mind full of medical knowledge. "If only we had taken a sample of the Titanium beforehand, then maybe we could figure the reason for it fusing like this."

Kitty chirped several times, and Mel, now aware of who Kitty really was, immediately heard Ram's voice speaking in her head, in sync with Kitty's chirping.

"Trust me, Mel, things are still going just as my boss planned them. Are you okay? He said the pain should be gone by now, but we can't show them anything but the claws like how you have them just yet. I can let you know with our Lifelink when it's okay to turn them over to being your fingers, and when it's not okay."

Mel whistled her reply, knowing that Ram could translate it with their Lifelink.

"But why stuff only hurt claws? Did boss do magic thing too?"

"Yup, since the liquid metal was already in place of the old Titanium, he made it seem to everyone else that the stuff in the crate only reacted with your claws themselves. In fact, we could drop that ingot of the original Titanium into the container, nothing would actually happen. All of this is being done with his and my magic, so just keep playing along and it'll all be back to normal."

Mel nodded in agreement, and let Kitty flutter onto her shoulder, hopping closer to her cheek to nuzzle with her.

"I forgot to thank you for giving me those cuddles earlier." Ram spoke in their Lifelink without making Kitty do any sounds. "So I hope this is good enough for now. I promise I'll make it up to you properly as soon as I can."


	8. Chapter 8

"I ain't know nuffin 'bout no silver liquid in our contract, Mal." Badger replied after Malcolm had finally calmed down from the moment he'd connected to the man. "I was told fifteen crates of food, find a willin' bloke to pick it up and deliver it to a minin' outpost on that planet. You're the willin' bloke, by the way."

"Fifteen?" Malcolm paused. "We received sixteen from the guy you sent us to."

"Then we both got some unhappy words needin' to be said to that contact, now don't we?" Badger replied before disconnecting.

"So what do we do, sir?" Zoe asked right away, as Wash likewise looked to him for how to handle this new outcome concerning the silver liquid inside the additional crate.

"First we make sure our biggest girl ain't hurt no more. Then we let Simon and our littlest girl have a look at that stuff inside the extra crate, see if they can figure it out. The rest of us keep Serenity set for deliverin' the rest of those crates after we personally check all fifteen of the crates, for good measure."

"Yes, sir. I'll get started right now." Zoe nodded, and Wash moved to join her in the task of checking the rest of the wooden crates.

"Cap'n?" Kaylee noticed that Malcolm was thinking hard about something else. "You alright?"

"Just tryin' to recall if Badger said the number'a crates we'd be takin' when I met with him in the flesh." Malcolm sighed, since Badger just said 'a bunch of food crates', never directly stating the number until now. "It ain't like he'd never tried to pull one on us before, but he seemed certain that this job'd be honest and shiny from the start."

"Maybe the contact tried to pull one on him first? And he never knew too?"

"Yeah, I reckon you're right, Kaylee... I reckon you're right." Malcolm nodded in agreement before leaving the bridge to go check on Mel.

* * *

Mel, it seemed, was fine now that she wasn't in pain, but one look at her claws showed that the Titanium wasn't just Titanium anymore. So, that brought his attention over to Simon and River, who gave them their theory about the liquid metal fusing with the Titanium of her claws, which was what caused her so much pain upon contact with the stuff.

"So, hold up... _liquid_ metal?" Malcolm repeated the baffling concept at the two smartest individuals aboard his ship. "Like, metal... that's a liquid?"

"The molecular structure is just like any scan of metal I've done, but it's clearly behaving just like any liquid would when touched or handled." Simon explained, then dipped his finger into the small pan that contained the strange substance that had been cleaned off of Mel's face and arms. When he withdrew it, it briefly remained on his finger but clearly dripped away and left no trace of itself on his skin or his fingernail. "See? And when it contacted the Titanium, it seemed to make itself into an entirely new alloy of the two, and when I scanned each of the claws, the molecular structure is the exact same as this batch we'd cleaned off of her arms and face. It's almost like..."

"Liquid metal replace old claws." Mel concluded with a nod of obvious understanding. "New claws feel better than old claws."

"Better?" Malcolm asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Better." Mel repeated the word with a hint of confidence. She then held up her index finger to present the claw on the end. "Not heavy, look sharper... it just... feel better." She concluded with the same vague word, as if that was the most obvious conclusion to be made.

"Now I know we don't have no more Titanium onboard to make this all happen again, so I reckon that's it. Them claws are... Better." Malcolm shrugged, like Mel's own tone earlier, as if the vague word was the most obvious conclusion to be made out of it. "So if that's all shiny, it's 'bout time for us all to get back to sleep, we're still on a job, and we've got fares here too."

"I'll have a look in the broken crate in the morning, see if there's anything else we can learn about this stuff." Simon glanced at the liquid metal in the nearby pan as he spoke.

"Good, now, girls, bird... off to bed." Malcolm tilted his head towards the infirmary door, and they all left, leaving him alone for a moment with Simon to speak alone. "Badger was told the order was fifteen crates, and that the destination's a minin' colony, but the rest'a us figure the contact tried pullin' one on Badger, what with slippin' that stuff in when we picked it all up. So I don't buy it being a minin' colony unless I see drills and pickaxes when we arrive to deliver them. For now though, you try lookin' at the stuff with diggin' in mind, and hope it's nothin' else."

"Of course, I'll see what I can find out." Simon nodded in agreement before they both went back to sleep themselves.

* * *

For the majority of the next day, everyone helped with searching every single crate of food, parcel by parcel, to make sure that nothing else was being slipped in with the large vat of the strange liquid metal, which was delegated specifically to River and Simon, with Mel assisting them since her claws were likely to damage the food parcels in the rest of the crates.

"Don't worry, that extra crate originally had food like the rest do, so my boss just swapped the contents with the container of the liquid metal. We're almost finished with the whole 'surprise revelation' that my boss did." Ram explained while Kitty chirped and chittered to Mel on her shoulder to make it seem like their usual whistle and chirp conversations.

"But what we do with container of metal?" Mel asked in kind.

"That's the part I'm handling right now, as Ram." Ram replied with a slight giggle. "I'm at the mining outpost you're heading to right now, I've already managed to fix my mistake of calling you by your real name last night. Once we're alone tonight, I can visit you again, as Ram, to pay you back for those cuddles, just like I promised."

"Is safe now?" Mel asked, noticing Kitty's head tilting to the side, as if to give it serious thought.

"For now... yes, things are on the safe side. But there's always the chance for things to go bad. There shouldn't be any problems when you guys arrive tomorrow." Ram replied. "Want to see what the place looks like?"

"Ummm..." Mel paused, unsure of what Ram meant.

"I can show you the memories of my arrival to the mine, I got a good look around before I had to start working. It's a power from all Lifelinks, being able to share memories with each other." Ram explained.

"Will it hurt?"

"Not at all. But, you're right to ask, because certain parts of sharing memories also include muscle memory earned during the memories. Like any training. So if the memory includes something that hurt, it'll be included."

"Just for looking?" Mel asked, feeling a new sensation that was immediately welcomed into her mind, and with it, a view of a large, flat area near a few small buildings and a distinctive hole in the side of a nearby hill. A mine, for sure. "Oh. Pretty."

"See? This is the spot you're headed for. The food's coming here for the workers. And the liquid metal's coming here too, but I can't tell you anymore than that. Work rules again."

"I see guards." Mel pointed out, having noticed a guard on each building roof, and one at the front entrance of the biggest building. "We be attacked?"

"They don't seem to be dangerous, I think that the guards are more for wildlife or Reavers. So let's keep things calm and quiet, and everything will settle nicely. I am still unknown to everyone on the ship, so even I want the bullets to stay chambered and not flying through the air, okay?"

"But I protect Ram." Mel replied matter-of-factly. "Protect Ram, get cuddles. Not hard to understand."

"Oh? Do I pay you with cuddles now?" Ram teased, clearly amused. "I like this little arrangement we've got going on here."

Mel felt pleased that Ram liked her idea, since when they'd shared cuddling, she felt so... _Good_. When she was with Ram, it was like nothing else mattered, not her claws, not Ram's boss, not even the Alliance. She felt so _good_ with Ram by her side. And she wanted to enjoy that feeling more than just once.

"Mel?" Simon's voice suddenly got her attention, and she turned her head to see him and River both staring at her. "How're you claws feeling now?"

"Fine. Not hurting." Mel nodded. "We learn new stuff about metal yet?"

"It's not something I would happen to know, with being a doctor and not a miner... But if I know my chemistry, then the fact it reacted with your Titanium like that leads me to believe it's... used for strengthening Titanium digging tools. It only reacted to the Titanium, while leaving the rest of your body unharmed, and certainly mine and River's skin whenever we touch it."

"But Titanium strong." Mel pointed out, since even she knew that her claws were the originals that had been placed into her fingers, and since only been sharpened once, last year.

"But Titanium, despite it's strength, still needs to be repaired eventually." Simon nodded. "But... If we took a piece of Titanium and compared the durability to the new alloy of your claws, it'd give me a means to compare the differences."

"Ummmm..." Mel glanced to the side and gently hugged herself.

"What is it, Mel?" Simon noticed the distinctly new gesture to her repetoire.

"I... have Titanium. Not claws. Piece." Mel had already laid her gaze onto her fallen piece of Titanium from the previous night, the one she'd scratched her name into. "Right there." She pointed at it on the floor with her index claw, the other hand still holding around herself uneasily.

"Where did you get that?" Malcolm had overheard - and watched her hugging herself, likewise adding it to a matched feeling for the tallest member of his crew - and was now moving to retrieve the piece of Titanium and clearly saw that her name was scratched into one side in a clumsy attempt at English letters, almost child-like in appearance.

"I find in hammer handle. Here." Mel stepped back and retrieved her nearby weapon, and pointed at the leather-wrapped grip, which had imprints in the leather binding that clearly showed a rectangular object had been slid inside for an extended length of time, clearly done to make the grip wider in the hand. "Write name last night before fall and break crate open." She put her weapon back down and nervously gripped her bicep with one hand, letting the other hang by her side.

"That explains how you fell, what with bein' distracted with scratchin' out your autograph and all." Malcolm approached her and calmly took her free hand into his own and placed the bar of Titanium into her open palm, much to her confused surprise. "It's yours anyway, You got it with your hammer. You do what you want with it, seein' as it's got'cha name on it and everythin'."


	9. Chapter 9

"Wash, set us down there in the open, we'll use the mule to haul the crates and explain that there was a mishap with the extra one if they ask anythin' about it." Malcolm reported into his radio from the cargo hold with Jayne, Zoe and Mel preparing to lift the crates onto the back of the mule as the descended to the mining outpost.

"Mule's ready, Mel, c'mon up." Zoe waved for the big girl to join her on the machine, so Mel and Kitty moved to sit beside her on the back, where it was clearly more comfortable for her than the not-for-big-girls seats in the front, where Jayne was seated while holding his pistol in one hand, checking it over while they waited for Wash to land Serenity. "Not bringin' your hammer?" Zoe noted that the weapon was absent, not that Mel really needed it at all times.

"No, claws better now, use them if things get out of hand." Mel shook her head slightly, feeling Ram's amusement in her Lifelink. "But job honest and shiny, not need for violence. We just bringing food for them."

"Well, I see your point, but I also don't take a likin' to the notion of unarmed-edness, 'cause if they's was tryin' to pull one on Badger with that liquid metal crap, I'm none too keen on walkin' down that there ramp without somethin' that's sharp, and somethin' that shoots."

"But I have sharp." Mel held up her hand to indicate her claws, which glinted in the overhead lights for a moment. "You have gun. So I not need hammer."

"Mel's right, job's supposed to be honest and shiny, we shouldn't be walkin' out ready for attackin' folk." Malcolm stated as he sat in the driver's seat of the mule beside Jayne. "But... Jayne's right too, we're not just gonna walk out of Serenity unprepared either. So it's sidearms and claws only."

"Cap'n, we're landin' in about a half-minute, I can see our greetin' party already waitin' for us. Looks like four guys." Wash reported from the radio as he deftly slowed their descent and performed a neat, expert landing about a dozen meters away from the four men. "You are good for ramp, lowerin' it from here." Wash added as he hit the controls for it for them.

Both quartets approached each other and the leader of the miner's group spoke first.

"I'm Duncan, supervisor of the mine. You're the freelancer transport we hired through Mr. Badger?"

"That we are, I'm Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Y'all ordered fifteen crates of food supplies, is that correct?" Malcolm held up a hand to indicate he was in charge.

"Fifteen of food, yeah, and a little birdy told me that another shipment we requested got mixed in with this job." Duncan nodded, noticing the distinctly regal looking Blue Jay on the shoulder of the tall pale-haired girl seated just behind the Captain. "A vat of silver coloured liquid, about the same size as the rest'a the food crates."

"That shipment was supposed to be separate?" Malcolm asked, then continued. "Well, there was a small mishap and that crate was broken open on the way here. A bit of that liquid got spilled on one of my crew. If that's any problem..."

"Not at all, stuff's called Firatite. It's used for strengthenin' our equipment, we use Titanium on our drills and pickaxes, that liquid makes the metal last a helluva lot longer, makes it more durable. Just a quick dip in the stuff and it's good to go down the shaft in under a minute." Duncan waved a hand dismissively. "Tell ya what, 'cause of the slight mixup and the spill, we'll pay the full price for the two shipments proper. Sanders, run back to the main office and grab the Credits for the Firatite shipment." Duncan turned to his left to address the man, who nodded and hurried back to the biggest building of the outpost. "Mind if I ask how the crate got broke?"

"I fell on it." Mel spoke up. "Firatite spilled on my claws, they Titanium too, so what we do now? We not in trouble for spill?" She held up her hand to show him her fingers ended in the curved claws instead of normal finger anatomy.

"Nothin' to worry about, just a broken crate and a little improvement for 'em." Duncan smiled slightly, amused by how the tall girl spoke in slightly broken English. "Nothin' bad happened, and nobody got hurt, so I don't see any reason to make a fuss."

"So how much is that Firatite shipment compared to what y'all offered for the food?" Jayne suddenly asked.

"About four times the food's price. Firatite's only able to fuse with certain metals anyway, so there's not much sense for it being used anywhere outside of minin', far as I know of." Duncan shrugged. "Right, while Sanders grabs the rest'a the money, I figure I should hand this over to you, for the food." Duncan reached into his pocket and produced a large wad of Credits, moving forward to hand over the money to Malcolm. "Mind if my guys start haulin' the food off your hands?"

"Of course, not a problem." Malcolm accepted the money and turned to Mel. "Mind giving them a hand while we drag out the Firatite?"

"Okay." Mel nodded and climbed off the side of the mule to begin helping the two men carrying the crates off the back, with her superior strength evident as she easily carried several at once. Kitty flew up into the air for a moment, then soared back into the cargo hold. Jayne and Zoe went back aboard Serenity to grab the vat of the liquid metal by the carrying handles on the sides and began lifting it out, while Malcolm kept on the mule until they were out of the way so he could reverse it back inside the cargo hold.

When they were done, Sanders returned with a stack of Credit bundles in his arms, handing them to Mel since her hands were free, and both parties gave nods and friendly waves before both of them went back to their lives, with the crew of Serenity walking up the ramp with satisfied smiles at the successful completion of a job without any bloodshed from the very start.

"So now that we know what the stuff's called, we don't need to worry about the stuff hurtin' nobody." Malcolm explained as he hit the manual controls for the ramp with his free hand, all three of them looking at Mel the whole time, until he noticed her gaze locking onto something further into the hold and her eyes went wide. So he turned, as did Zoe and Jayne, to find a very unusual girl with a white dress and big horns on the sides of her head sitting in the front seat of the mule.

"Hi." Malcolm spoke first, taking in the horned girl's appearance, and noted the Firatite glove on her left hand.

"Hello." The girl replied with a small smile tugging at her lips. "Before you get the wrong idea, I should probably introduce myself, shouldn't I?"

"Ram." Mel spoke up suddenly, sounding adorably stern to her partner. "What about work rules? You said they no let you be seen by anyone but me when you be as Ram, not as Kitty."

"Okay, I think we're missing somethin' here..." Zoe glanced between the two girls warily.

"You are." The girl, Ram, replied with a small giggle. "So let's start over with that introduction... Hi, my name's Ram. I'm Mel's Lifelink partner."

* * *

"Hold on a tick, you're the bird?" Jayne asked now that the crew were gathered in the bridge with Mel and Ram, while the passengers - except for James, who wasn't involved with the chat and was presently elsewhere in Serenity - were all gone by now, so they didn't need to worry about being overheard.

"Kitty, as you know it, is my avatar, a sort of living puppet for me to still be in contact with Mel when I'm not able to see her directly. I created him specifically for this purpose, so yes, I am the bird." Ram was sitting on Mel's lap, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the bridge while everyone else was gathered around the pair, and Mel was clearly holding her in a loving embrace from behind, while resting her chin on top of Ram's head. "So now that it's obvious, you're probably all brimming with questions about me and what I've said since I arrived, right?"

"Firstly, what is it that you do that stops you from seein' Mel in the flesh?" Malcolm asked with his arms crossed as he leaned his hip against the control deck for the helm.

"I'm a Liaison, which in terms you'd understand... is similar to a Federal Marshal for the Alliance. But my job isn't for a mere government. I am basically a field agent for keeping an eye on entire dimensions, and I work for someone that you would most accurately refer to as a God." Ram's gaze lingered on Shepherd Book for a moment before continuing. "But, as of right now, I'm off duty because Mel and I share a special kind of connection called a Lifelink, so certain rules are being bent to allow me to make the occasional visit to her."

"Lifelink?" Malcolm asked, since even he knew it was the same question on everyone's mind.

"It's like..." Ram began, but paused, thinking about how to put it into words. "Our very souls are connected, giving us a way to constantly feel what each other are thinking and know where each other are at all times. We're like the super improved version of soul mates."

"So is that why I can't read your minds right now? I can sense a blank patch in both of you." River commented, her expression clearly full of concentration as she tried to get through the void in their minds.

"That's partially true. You can read the rest of our minds just fine, but our Lifelink is immune to your ability to read minds." Ram replied. "Trust me, you'll never be able to get through a Lifelink. Doesn't matter how powerful anyone gets in the grand scheme of things, the big boss man himself won't let anyone mess with any Lifelinks, not just ours. Not even making a deal with him in person will work, because he's gonna just twist your own wording to suit his end of the deal over yours. Believe me, I've seen him do it more than enough times."

"Bad Ram, no make references." Mel pouted slightly, feeling a knowing shiver going up her spine. "Fourth Wall fragile when do that."


End file.
